FAYETTEVILLE — Three children and two adults have seemingly vanished off the face of the earth. Relatives from Alabama are in Fayetteville hoping publicity will help solve the mystery.

Jerry Glenn has been searching for his daughter since December 1996.Serena Glenn and her half siblings, twins Brentanny and Brent Hughes, disappeared with their mother and her sister more than three years ago.

"For five people to come up missing doesn't sound good from the start," Glenn says.

According to investigators, they were last seen together at their home on Winterpark Drive. Neighbors say the family told them they were packing up and leaving for Alabama, but they have not been heard from since.

Detectives got a late start on the case. The family was not officially reported missing until more than a year later. Investigators are not ruling out foul play, but they also say the family may not want to be found.

"We've checked activity on their social security numbers and there's no activity. No schools have called for their records," says Lt. Jimmy Black of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. "It's as if they don't exist anymore."

Detectives say they have two confirmed sightings of the aunt, Jennifer Hughes, one of which was at a Wal-Mart on Ramsey Street last summer.

However, the family is still heartbroken over many unanswered questions.

Why would Robby Ann Hughes, who religiously picked up Social Security checks for her kids, stop cashing them? Why would she take three of her children with her and leave her fourth behind with her third husband, and if they are hiding, for what reason?

"We want them to know we love them and care and we are here for them," says Shelia Hughes-Guffey, Hughes' sister.

Robby Ann's last husband still lives in North Carolina with their son. He refuses to take a polygraph, but investigators say he is not a suspect in their disappearance.

Anyone with any information on the case is asked to call the Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Division at(910) 323-1500.